ABC Talks “SHIELD,” “Star Wars” Series

With Disney now controlling Marvel and owning Lucasfilm, TV series spin-offs of both franchises on the company’s ABC Network seems like an inevitable possibility. The Joss Whedon-produced “S.H.I.E.L.D.” is the first off the rack and is heading into production in time for a debut this Fall.

Talking the show up at the recent TCA, network president Paul Lee says: “The truth about Joss is he has some great relationships in [S.H.I.E.L.D.] so there are a lot of really funny, male/female relationships – very flirtatious ones that go through it. But it’s also Joss too and it’s Marvel and there’s a lot of action to it.”

At present the pilot episode only exists in script form and the network will be watching the completed pilot earlier than for other prospective new series to see whether they will give the show an official green-light.

Lee says: “The script’s great. So I don’t want to jinx it, because that may not mean a good pilot or a good series, but we’re very excited about it. Joss is wonderful to work with. And by the way, [he’s] thrilled to be on television, which I’m enjoying!”

Lee adds that there are also plans to examine the feasibility of picking up the now dormant “Star Wars” live-action TV show that was in development over at Lucasfilm before it was sold to Disney.

Lee says: “We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet. We haven’t even sat down with them. we’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them, and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. it’s definitely going to be part of the conversation. it’s going to be very much up to the Lucasfilm brands how they want to play it.”